Warning Labels and Natural Selection

So here we go with warning labels.  I can understand some. But we have gone way too far.  We have to be warned that coffee is hot.  That drinking bleach is bad.  That curling irons are for external use only(I know…).   Hell I even see things on TV for lawyers about ice machines can cause frostbite.

Some of my favorites

Do not use as dental drill – Rotary Tool

May cause eye irritation – Pepper Spray

Warning knives are sharp – Knives

Product will be hot after heating – Microwave Meal

Not for Human Consumption –Triops Fish Food

 

Time for a bit of common sense and natural selection. We cannot have someone else protect and warn us about everything we may face as we go through our lives.  Where does it stop?  I am sorry but if you are too irresponsible or dense to realize that using a hair dryer while in the shower may not be your best choice then we need to slowly start breeding that particular trait out of the gene pool.

Do you want protection and warnings about everything?

Think about something simple.  A cup of water. Does not seem too dangerous but it is a deadly and dangerous thing.  What would the warning label look like?

Warning
Spilled water is slippery
Drinking too much water  may cause death
Drinking too much water may lead to excessive urination
May cause ear infection
May cause malaria and other illness through breeding mosquitoes
Do not submerge nose and mouth may cause drowning
Cup may break causing sharp objects
Water may freeze causing excessive coldness, brain freeze, hypothermia, and frostbite
Water may get hot causing burns, and steamy conditions leading to fog and poor visibility

I guess the most depressing part of this is simply the label exists because either someone was dumb enough to actually engage in the behavior that the label warns against or someone in a room understood people well enough to know that someone would do this if they were not warned otherwise. Such as do not put hands in piranha tank. They call it a warning I call it a learning opportunity.

Ok in all seriousness it is about avoiding responsibility for our own actions plain and simple.  That’s it.